O-ring for intake boots

[Suzukizilla]

Is the part number for the o-rings the same for the 750 as for the 850? Went to Suzuki and picked up PN 09280-38004. There too big. Did I get the wrong part or was I given the wrong part?

[jimcor]

Do a check on the AlphaSports site. They use Suzuki numbers.

http://www.alpha-sports.com/suzuki_parts.htm

[ptm]

The part you need is 09280-32006 which is used on a ton of bikes including the following GSs:
Part Description = O-RING (D:2.4 ID:31.7)

GS1000C 1978
GS1000EC 1978
GS1000LN 1979
GS1000N 1979
GS1000SN 1979
GS750B 1977
GS750C 1978
GS750EC 1978
GS750LN 1979
GS750N 1979
GS850GN 1979


Part 09280-38004 is used on a lot of bikes, but not yours:
Part Description = O-RING (D:2.4 ID:37.7)
GS550ET 1980
GS850GT 1980
GS850GLT 1980
GS550LT 1980
GS650GLX 1981
GS550LX 1981
GS650GX 1981
GS850GLX 1981
GS850GX 1981
GS650EX 1981
GS550TX 1981
GS850GLZ 1982
GS550MZ 1982
GS650GTZ 1982
GS850GZ 1982
GS650GLZ 1982
GS650EZ 1982
GS550LZ 1982
GS650GTD 1983
GS850GD 1983
GS650GD 1983
GS850GLD 1983
GS650GLD 1983
GS750ESD 1983
XN85D 1983
GS700EF 1985

[Suzukizilla]

Thanks guys. Dont think they will give me a hard time exchanging them. I got the number off the instruction sheet that came with the seal kit but it does say for the 850. This was my bad though. I should have taken the old seal with me and had the parts guy look it up. I was doing this on my lunch and was in a hurry. Oh well back to Suzuki I go.

[robertbarr]

What did they hit you for, each, for the intake O-rings?

I get so many requests that I've often wondered if I shouldn't just stock the darned things. If I buy enough at one time, I'm sure I could do better than Suzuki per copy, and folks could order them at the same time as the kits I sell...

I've had people tell me that their dealership refuses to order these, and I've had other poor folks emailing from places like South Africa, Bosnia and Panama where there just aren't any dealerships.

Thanks for the data, PTM. I might add the data to my site, if nothing else, so people have some idea of the sizes, so they can at least go searching on their own if there is no local dealership.

[snowbeard]

I guess I heard that /\/\acmatic was on the deadbeats list, he got me mine. glad I got a couple sets!!

But many thanks to you Robert, I've had a couple sets of yours as well, a godsend! =D>

[themess]

What did they hit you for, each, for the intake O-rings?

I get so many requests that I've often wondered if I shouldn't just stock the darned things. If I buy enough at one time, I'm sure I could do better than Suzuki per copy, and folks could order them at the same time as the kits I sell...

I've had people tell me that their dealership refuses to order these, and I've had other poor folks emailing from places like South Africa, Bosnia and Panama where there just aren't any dealerships.

Thanks for the data, PTM. I might add the data to my site, if nothing else, so people have some idea of the sizes, so they can at least go searching on their own if there is no local dealership.

I bought a set of the 09280-38004s last week from my local Suzuki dealer for $1.50 each. Alpha Sports wanted $1.86 for them. I also bought a set of new black socket head cap screws and hardened washers from Ace Hardware for $7.20.

[Suzukizilla]

Total was $4.44 ($1.11 each) from Suzuki for the 38006. Was a dollar more for the 38004. HTH

[maxpower_hd]

Talk aboout cheap! I just ordered four o-rings for a 79 GS1000L at the local Motorsports parts counter for $0.99 each. Can't complain there.

[bwringer]

Part number 09280-38004 (used on later CV carb GS850G and others) measures 38mm Inside Diameter X 2.5mm (maybe 2.4mm?) thickness, and is made from a special heat-resistant rubber, like Viton. Ordinary buna-n o-rings will quickly deteriorate in the heat from the cylinder head.

I wasn't able to easily find metric o-rings made from Viton in that size, but a Viton US standard size 128 o-ring is a wee bit fatter in cross-section and pretty much exactly correct in diameter, and it fits and functions just fine. I ordered a bag of 25 for $11 from McMaster-Carr just as an experiment, and they work perfectly.

I'm sure someone makes metric Viton o-rings in the correct sizes, but I didn't find them in a casual search. They're cheap and easily available from Suzuki, so it's not that big a deal.

(Side rant: Why the &^%$# is nearly every fastener in the US still only available in INCH SIZES??????!!!?!?!?!?!? The rest of the world moved to metric something like 50 years ago. All US cars have been made with metric fasteners since the mid-'70s. Yet you can only find a small expensive selection of metric fasteners amongst the vast aisles of useless inch fasteners in a few hardware stores. Are there really that many lawn mowers and Hardley-Ablesons missing bolts?)

After hearing about a couple of misunderstandings, I've recently added Stern Warnings to my web page in hopes that people will take a moment to look up the correct part numbers for their bike instead of assuming that the part numbers I give are universal. The procedure is about the same on all models that use intake o-rings, but the parts may not be.

[themess]

Just a minor note...

We've been talking about "Viton" rubber. "Viton" is a DuPont trademark for fluorocarbon rubber. 3M makes "Flourel". 3M has been in the business longer than DuPont, and makes more fluorobarbon rubber than DuPont. I worked in a factory that made oil seals and related products, and was one of the largest consumers of fluorocarbon rubber on earth. My personal experience is that DuPont excelled at marketing and Power Point presentations. 3M excelled at making a good, consistent product, listening to us, and helps us solve problems.

For a bit more on materials used for O-rings and their characteristics, and the trade vs. chemical names of different types of rubber, see:

http://www.everyoring.com/pages/O-ring_material.html

The company sells O-rings. I've never used them. It came up on a Google search.

[bwringer]

Just a minor note...

We've been talking about "Viton" rubber. "Viton" is a DuPont trademark for fluorocarbon rubber. 3M makes "Flourel". 3M has been in the business longer than DuPont, and makes more fluorobarbon rubber than DuPont. I worked in a factory that made oil seals and related products, and was one of the largest consumers of fluorocarbon rubber on earth. My personal experience is that DuPont excelled at marketing and Power Point presentations. 3M excelled at making a good, consistent product, listening to us, and helps us solve problems.

For a bit more on materials used for O-rings and their characteristics, and the trade vs. chemical names of different types of rubber, see:

http://www.everyoring.com/pages/O-ring_material.html

The company sells O-rings. I've never used them. It came up on a Google search.

Good info! Is there a consumer source for Fluoron o-rings, or is it just a lot simpler to order from Suzuki?

[themess]

Good info! Is there a consumer source for Fluoron o-rings, or is it just a lot simpler to order from Suzuki?

I don't know. I was involved in making seals, not selling them. And the factory I worked at didn't make O-rings.

Most types of polymers (riubbers) are made by many manufacturers and in many different grades. By "grade", I don't mean quality. There are hundreds of kinds of steel, stainless steel and aluminum with different properties. Some properties are better for some applications and worse for others. In polymers one example of this is the molecular weight distritubtion, another is the amount of brranching. Some of the properties have nothing to do with performance in the application; they relate only to difficulties in manufacturing. And this last type of category is where I know that 3M does very well. Both 3M and DuPont make excellent fluorocarbon polymers/rubbers.

Given the penetration of the Viton name, I'd be surprised if half of the O-rings out there sold under the name Viton (DuPont) weren't actually made with Fluorel (3M). I brought this up because, if anyone is looking for intake boot O-rings, they should know that "Viton" isn't the only stuff that works. And on the same topic, Buna-N started out as a trademark for nitrile rubber. If memory serves me correctly, this was the first synthetic rubber. It was first made in Germany in the 1930s. For applications that below about 250 degrees F, that only expose parts to normal solvents like gas and oil, nitrile is fine. The O-rings in the fuel system are almost certainly nitrile. Nitrile costs less to produce than fluorocarbon and is a *lot* easier to manufacture with.

For sh*ts and giggles, I think that I'll throw my old intake boot O-rings into some carb cleaner. Fluorocarbon O-rings just might be unfazed by it for 24 hours or so...